Yamaraja also presides over the anus and genitals because *DISCHARGING
SEMEN IS THE CAUSE OF A HORRIBLE DEATH* and he is the god of death.

What follows are some points from Sivananda Swami's book on Brahmacarya...

The vital energy, the Veerya that supports your life which shines in your
sparkling eyes, which beams in your shining cheeks, is a great treasure for
you. Remember this point well. Veerya is the quintessence of blood. One drop
of semen is manufactured out of forty drops of blood. Mark here how valuable
this fluid is!

A tree draws the essence or Rasa from the earth. This essence is circulated
throughout the tree, its twigs, branches, leaves, flowers and fruits. The
shining colours and life in the leaves, flowers and fruits are due to this
Rasa. Similarly, the Veerya that is manufactured by the cells of the testes
out of blood gives colour and vitality to the human body and its different
organs.

According to Ayurveda, semen is the last Dhatu that is formed out of food.
Out of food is manufactured chyle. Out of chyle comes blood. Out of blood
comes flesh. Out of flesh comes fat. Out of fat comes bone. Out of bone
comes marrow. Out of marrow comes semen. These are the Sapta Dhatus or the
seven Dhatus that support this life and body. Mark here how precious is
semen! It is the last essence. It is the Essence of essences. The Veerya
comes out of the very marrow that lies concealed inside the bones.
There are three divisions in each Dhatu. Semen nourishes the physical body,
the heart and the intellect. Only that man who uses the physical body, the
heart and the intellect can have perfect Brahmacharya. A wrestler who uses
his physical body only, but keeps the intellect and the heart undeveloped,
cannot expect to have full Brahmacharya. He can have Brahmacharya of the
body only, but not of the mind and the heart. The semen that belongs to the
heart and the mind will certainly flow out.

Semen is the quintessence of food or blood. One drop of semen in
manufactured out of forty drops of blood according to modern medical
science. According to Ayurveda, it is elaborated out of eighty drops of
blood. The two testes or seeds that are located in the scrotal bag are
called secretory glands. The cells of these testes have been endowed with
the peculiar property of secreting semen from the blood. Just as bees
collect honey in the honeycomb drop by drop, so also, the cells of the
testes collect semen drop by drop from the blood. Then this fluid is taken
by the two ducts or tubes to the vesiculae seminalis. Under excitement, it
is thrown out by special ducts, called ejaculatory ducts, into the urethra
where it is mixed with the prostatic juice.

Semen is found in a subtle state in all the cells of the body. Just as sugar
is all-pervading in the sugar-cane, butter in milk, so also, semen is
pervading the whole body. Just as the butter milk is thin after the butter
is removed, so also, semen is thinned by its wastage. The more the wastage
of semen the more is the weakness.

In the Patanjali Yoga Sastras it is said:

Maranam Bindu Patanat,
Jivanam Bindu Rakshanat.

Falling of semen brings death; preservation of semen gives life. Semen is
the real vitality in men. It is the hidden treasure in man. It imparts
Brahma-Tejas to the face and strength to the intellect.

Secret of health and longevity

Pure air, pure water, wholesome food, physical exercise, outdoor games,
walking with brisk steps, rowing, swimming, light games like tennis-all
contribute to the maintenance of good health, strength and a high standard
of vitality. There are indeed many ways to gain health and strength. These
ways are doubtless indispensably requisite. But, Brahmacharya is the most
important of all. Without Brahmacharya, all your exercises are nothing. It
is the master-key for opening the realms of health and happiness. It is the
corner-stone of the edifice of bliss and unalloyed felicity.

The preservation of semen is the secret of health and longevity, and of all
success in the physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual planes. He who
has even a little bit of Brahmacharya will tide over a crisis of any disease
very easily. If it takes a month for an ordinary man for recovery, this man
will be completely all right in a week.

The Srutis declare a full life or age of one hundred years for a man. This
you can attain only by the establishment of Brahmacharya. There are
instances of men who have attained longevity and intellectual powers despite
their loose, immoral ways. But they would have been still more powerful and
brilliant had they possessed a good character and continence as well.
After Dhanvantari had taught all the details about Ayurveda to his
disciples, they enquired about the keynote of this medical science. The
Master replied, "I tell you that Brahmacharya is truly a precious jewel. It
is the one most effective medicine-nectar indeed-which destroys diseases,
decay and death.

Wet dream and voluntary copulation-A vital difference

A sexual act shatters the nervous system. The whole nervous system is shaken
or agitated during the act. There is excessive loss of energy. More energy
is wasted during coition. But it is not so when emission occurs during the
dreaming state. In a wet dream, it may be the outflow of the prostatic juice
only. Even if there is loss of the vital fluid, there is not much draining.
The actual essence does not come out during wet dreams. It is only the
watery prostatic juice with a little semen that is discharged during
nocturnal pollutions. When nocturnal emission takes place, the mind which
was working in the inner astral body suddenly enters the physical body
vehemently in an agitated condition. That is the reason why emission takes
place suddenly.

The night discharge may not stimulate the sexual desire. But a voluntary
copulation, in the case of a sincere aspirant is highly detrimental to his
spiritual progress. The Samskara created by the act will be very deep; and
it will intensify or strengthen the force of the previous Samskaras that are
already imbedded in the subconscious mind and will stimulate the sexual
desire. It will be like pouring ghee in the fire that is slowly getting
extinguished. The task of obliterating this new Samskara will be an uphill
work. You should completely give up copulation. This mind will try to delude
you in a variety of ways by giving wrong counsel. Be on the alert. Do not
hear its voice, but try to hear the voice of the conscience or the voice of
the soul or the voice of discrimination.

Youth with bloodless faces

A good lot of energy is wasted during copulation. Bad memory, premature old
age, impotence, various sorts of eye diseases and various nervous diseases
are attributable to the heavy loss of this vital fluid. It is greatly
shocking indeed to see many of our youth walking with tottering steps, with
pale, bloodless faces owing to loss of this vital fluid, instead of jumping
hither and thither with agile, nimble steps with vigour and vitality like
the squirrel. Some people are so passionate and weak that even the thought
or sight or touch of a woman causes discharge of semen. Pitiable is their
lot!

THE DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF SEXUAL INDULGENCE

The most devitalising and demoralizing of pleasures is the sex pleasure.
Sensual enjoyment is attended with various defects. It is attended with
various sorts of sins, pains, weaknesses, attachments, slave mentality, weak
will, severe exertion and struggle, craving and mental restlessness. Worldly
persons never come to their proper senses although they get severe knocks,
kicks and blows from different corners. The strolling street dog never stops
from visiting the houses even though it is pelted with stones every time.
Eminent doctors of the West say that various kinds of diseases arise from
the loss of semen, particularly in young age. There appear boils on the
body, acne or eruptions on the face, blue lines around the eyes, absence of
beard, sunken eyes, pale face with anaemia, loss of memory, loss of
eye-sight, shortsightedness, discharge of semen along with urine,
enlargement of the testes, pain in the testes, debility, drowsiness,
laziness, gloominess, palpitation of the heart, dyspnoea or difficulty in
breathing, phthisis, pain in the back, loins, head and joints, weak kidneys,
passing urine in sleep, fickle-mindedness, lack of thinking power, bad
dreams, wet dreams and restlessness of mind.

Mark carefully the evil after-effects that follow the loss of seminal
energy! Persons are physically, mentally and morally debilitated by wasting
the seminal power on so many occasions for nothing. The body and the mind
refuse to work energetically. There is physical and mental lethargy. You
experience much exhaustion and weakness. You will have to take recourse to
drinking milk, to eating fruits and aphrodisiac confections, to make good
the loss of energy. Remember that these things can never, never repair the
loss completely. Once lost is lost for ever. You will have to drag on a
dreary, cheerless existence. Bodily and mental strength gets diminished day
by day.

Those who have lost much of their Veerya become very irritable. Little
things upset their minds. Those who have not observed the vow of celibacy
become the slaves of anger, jealousy, laziness and fear. If you have not got
your senses under control, you venture to do foolish acts which even
children will not dare to do.

He who has wasted the vital energy becomes easily irritable, loses his
balance of mind and gets into a state of explosive fury for trifling things.
When a man becomes furious, he behaves improperly. He does not know what he
is exactly doing as he loses his power of reasoning and discrimination. He
will do anything he likes. He will insult even his parents, Guru and
respectable persons. It behoves, therefore, that the aspirant who is trying
to develop good behaviour must preserve the vital energy. Preservation of
this divine energy leads to the attainment of strong will-power, good
behaviour & spiritual exaltation.

Excessive sexual intercourse drains the energy enormously. Young men do not
realize the value of the vital fluid. They waste this dynamic energy by
immoderate copulation. Their nerves are tickled much. They become
intoxicated. What a serious blunder they commit! It is a crime that demands
capital punishment.

When this energy is once wasted, it can never be recouped by any other
means. It is the most powerful energy in the world. One sexual act shatters
completely the brain and the nervous system. People foolishly imagine that
they can recover the lost energy by taking milk, almonds and Makaradhvaja.
This is a mistake. You must try your level best to preserve every drop
although you are a married man. Self-realization is the goal.

The energy that is wasted during one sexual intercourse is tantamount to the
energy that is spent in physical labour for ten days or the energy that is
utilized in mental work for three days. Mark how precious is the vital
fluid, semen! Do not waste this energy. Preserve it with great care. You
will have wonderful vitality. When Veerya is not used, it is all transmuted
into Ojas Sakti or spiritual energy and stored up in the brain. Western
doctors know little of this salient point. Most of your ailments are due to
excessive seminal wastage.

From Sivananda